Thursday, February 24, 2011

mary poppins wouldn't need garment bags: a mini tutorial

growing up, i was very fond of mary poppins. i owned the movie, watched it countless times, and also read the entire book series. i find myself thinking of her particularly often when i am packing for travel or a move-- and desperately wishing i was mary poppins. she is my version of a super hero. she can jump in and out of chalk drawings, and flies through the air with an umbrella (a dual purpose accessory, how practical). but most importantly, she has a carpet bag that fits just about everything, as is. something i desperately wished for during this big move. when mary poppins snaps her fingers, items jump neatly to their place. so instead of taking weeks to unpack and pack, all the while discovering things that have been broken or damaged in the process, everything is packed, moved, and unpacked in a few, fun-filled moments... in song.

and she certainly wouldn't have ever needed garment bags. while we were packing up our clothes into wardrobe boxes, i found myself in the sudden need of garment bags. altogether we had about six, when we needed a couple dozen. the husband went out to look for some at target, but came back with a bag of trash bags instead...and that's what we used.

i took each trash bag and folded it in half vertically and snipped off a piece at the fold at the base of the trash bag, and then pulled them over the batches of clothes. our bags had pull tie closures, which worked out very well. if we had bigger or longer clothing, i just added an extension to the bottom.

it's a good thing that we used them, since half the wardrobe boxes came crushed and the bags covered in dust and grime (and even some ripped clothing!).